The Dark Side of Online Shopping: Human-Assisted CAPTCHA-Cracking Services Fuel Shopper Bots

Cybercriminals Now Have Access to Human-Assisted CAPTCHA-Breaking Services

In recent times, the cyber-underground menu has added a new service, i.e., human-assisted CAPTCHA breaking functionality. This has raised concerns that website administrators must adopt additional measures to protect their websites from bots. CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) challenges are familiar to most internet users, as they are used to ensure that human beings access e-commerce and online account sites. CAPTCHA is a puzzle that is presented as an image with distorted text or distorted photos with a specific object that must be clicked, among others. The goal is to block out bots, but the space has emerged to develop more advanced CAPTCHA puzzles that include the interpretation of twisty letters or numbers, and even the transformation of an askew object into its correct position, among others.

However, machines can defeat these tougher puzzles. Machine Learning, for instance, has made it possible for bots to resolve some of the more complex puzzles. Consequently, advanced CAPTCHA challenges have been developed, but cybercrooks have also designed services to defeat them. Some services are primarily geared towards defeating CAPTCHAs by humans rather than bots. According to Trend Micro, several services have been created to cater to this market. To use CAPTCHA-solving services, bot operators create automated attack scripts to capture CAPTCHA as presented and send it in real-time via an integrated API call to the service provider. The CAPTCHA-breaking service then sends the answer back to the automated script to be input into the answer field on the targeted website.

Rise in the Use of CAPTCHA-Solving Services

CAPTCHA-solving services have been gaining popularity lately. The Trend Micro researchers reported that Poshmark, a social commerce marketplace, was attacked using CAPTCHA-solving services targeting CAPTCHAs from Poshmark’s website. Several CAPTCHA-solving task requests were sent to a known CAPTCHA-breaking service, and these requests originated from a known Poshmark bot. Therefore, online service operators should prepare to face different challenges when their CAPTCHAs are defeated by CAPTCHA-solving services through humans.

Philosophical Discussion on the Need for Increased Online Security

The need for increased online security cannot be overemphasized. As businesses move more of their operations online, it is essential to find ways to protect them from cybercriminals. With the emergence of human-assisted CAPTCHA-solving services, website administrators should incorporate additional anti-bot protection measures. Nevertheless, the challenges are still numerous, and new technological advancements pose a continuous threat. Perhaps a better approach is to adopt a multi-factor authentication process that combines various solutions to guarantee the security of such operations. This development also highlights the ethical issues surrounding cybersecurity breaches. The use of human-assisted CAPTCHA solves, in particular, raises concerns over the ethics of using people to exploit security vulnerabilities.

Editorial and Advice

Online security is critical, and businesses must continue evolving to mitigate risks related to cybersecurity. The continuous emergence of new threats means that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Therefore, businesses that have moved some of their operations online must remain vigilant and update their anti-bot protection systems regularly. Organizations must continuously test their security systems to ensure that they remain robust.

The emergence of CAPTCHA-solving services that utilize humans to aid in cyber-attacks also points to the need to ensure that such cybersecurity practices are ethical. It requires businesses to maintain a high level of ethics in their cybersecurity practices. As a result, businesses should engage in ethical cybersecurity practices such as informing users about the possibility of their website being “hacked” and taking measures to ensure that private user information is kept safe.

Additionally, individuals must also remain vigilant and protect their online activities. One of the best ways to do so is to encrypt personal data and use strong passwords. It is essential to avoid using public Wi-Fi to access sensitive financial information like bank accounts.